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This is my first ‘Handmade Monday’ blog post. For anyone who hasn't heard of it, Handmade Monday is run by Wendy at 1st Unique Gifts and is basically a link party – everyone writes a post about something they have made and then they share their links on Wendy’s blog. It’s another way of creating a community in the blog world and I'm looking forward to reading the blogs of the others who join in each week.

This week I’ve got two gadget cases to show. A Union Jack one for an iphone and a more girly one for a Kindle. I’m hoping that the Union Jack design is a more masculine design than my usual ones. I find it much easier designing things for women and children and my sketchbooks are full of pictures for future product ideas but when it comes to men I seem to have a mental block. I’d love to know what sort of designs you think appeal to men!

As well as fitting in a bit of sewing we’ve also been doing some cooking. I love cooking – I’m not an expert and I don’t really cook anything too complicated but I enjoy it and for the most part I make sure my children are eating home cooked food. Unfortunately, recently my children seem to be going through a fussy stage. It’s so disheartening. I hate going to the effort of cooking and then scraping piles of food into the bin. So I’ve decided to try and get the children more involved in the cooking process and hopefully get them more interested in the food! I was wandering round Lakeland (something I try to resist doing too often as it has a detrimental effect on both my bank balance and my cupboard space) when I came across sale copy of the book which accompanies the Children’s series ‘I Can Cook’. I’m not usually a fan of children’s cooking programmes as mostly they just involve arranging the food in some complex way to look like something (a car, train, teddy bear) but actually just make it look totally unappetising and impossible to eat. This book, however, seems to have quite nice simple recipes, with healthy ingredients, and child friendly instructions.

We made the sausage kebabs (swapping the yucky precooked cocktail sausages for proper ones!) and they were actually really tasty. The idea of using rosemary stalks as the skewer was brilliant and I’m planning on using it with vegetable kebabs as an accompaniment next time I have people round for a meal!

Yep, I also have a mental block when it comes to men's things!! (That sounds wrong, but you know what I mean). The bee case is lovely and the Union Jack one is brilliant for men - masculine, but not too butch.The I Can Cook book is great - we have made lots of things from there. I can highly recommend the Melting Moments - I doubled the quantities they were so yummy!

I have the same problem decorating spec cases for men! For cases like you make it could be some geometrical designs or some joke written down or silhouette, New York skyline? In very restricted colour palette...But I really like what you've made!

Of course my favourite is the bee case, but what would you expect! Masculine is such a hard thing to design, but I agree with Felicity, geometric seems to work for me on cards, stripes are a good one too.Bx

The union jack case is great. I struggle coming up with stuff for men, too! It's really not easy unless you have a specific theme to work too. If you hadn't already come across it I would have suggested I Can Cook. The Vegetarian Society have a great little book aimed at kids too. Cooking for kids is not easy sometimes especially when they are fussy but I think it definitely helps to get them involved! My eldest loves baking so you could try that, and make savoury bakes (pasties go down a storm here!) I hope you have a great week and welcome to Handmade Monday!

I have never thought about designing for men - maybe I should? My children also go through fussy stages but they tend to come through them. I like Annabel Carmel books - she does one entitled Th Fussy Eater which has some great recipes in. I like both the cases :D

Hello Sarah, thank you for the comment on my blog. It's my first Handmade Monday this week too! Your gadget cases look stunning! I wish I'd learned to cook when I was a lot younger. I can only bake, and you can't live off of baking haha! xx

Thank you for commenting on my Blog.I am still looking through all the Blogs in the Blog ring.I love the Union Jack Case! And those kebabs look and sound great. I love cooking and baking. Men are so hard to make or buy for.Handmade Monday....I may have to look into that

Just saying...

AN IMPORTANT NOTICE ABOUT MY BLOG AND WORK:

Please note that the photos and text and designs shown on my blog may not be copied, in whole or in part, without my express permission. Patterns and techniques shown in my tutorials may be followed but for personal use only and not for sale (unless you are selling the item for charity, in which place please request my permission first. Thank you.